What does the new EU legislation DSA aim to do for Social Media?

When it comes to Social Media, the Digital Services Act (DSA) puts forth certain requirements related to users' control over what shows up on their feeds, both organic and paid content. It also emphasizes the need for these platforms to be clear about why one’s seeing particular content.

From now on, large online platforms and search engines have to comply with rules that aim to:

➡ Empower users

➡ Protect minors

➡ Limit disinformation

➡ Enhance transparency and accountability

Following this new legislation, we’ll see a new scenery in social platforms. Here are some of the actions the leading social media platforms are taking:

Meta

Meta is giving a glimpse into the functioning of their AI systems, evident in the release of 22 system cards tailored for Facebook and Instagram. These informational cards furnish insights into how the AI systems prioritize content across various sections like Feed, Reels, Stories, and other interfaces. They shed light on the projections made by each system to determine the most pertinent content for users, as well as the avenues to personalize the Facebook and Instagram experience. These developments are an extension of Meta's longstanding "Why Am I Seeing This" feature, which empowers users to directly access insights within their applications, explaining why certain content was predicted to be relevant and outlining the activities and inputs contributing to such predictions.

In addition to increased transparency, Meta is also enhancing users' ability to customize their content experience on Facebook and Instagram. Meta has now introduced a choice for our European community to explore content across Reels, Stories, Search, and other sections of the platforms that aren't sorted by Meta's AI systems. For instance, on both Facebook and Instagram, users will have the alternative to exclusively view Stories and Reels from accounts they follow, arranged chronologically from newest to oldest. Furthermore, they will be able to access Search results solely based on the keywords they input, rather than being personalized according to their past interactions and individual preferences.

TikTok

TikTok, too, is introducing the choice for users to disable the personalized recommendation stream driven by their interests. This adjustment comes with their announcement that the captivating algorithm will now be an optional feature for European users. Once this option is enabled, users will receive a feed of videos in chronological order instead of a feed specifically tailored to their preferences. In its place, they will encounter "For You" and Live feeds showcasing popular videos in their region and chosen language.

“We will soon be giving our European community another way to discover content on TikTok by allowing them to turn off personalization,” the company writes.

How will the incorporation of DSA affect the marketing field?

We’ve asked our Social Media Specialist, Erika, for an analysis:

 - The chronological feed on Instagram has been back for over a year now, meaning users have had time to choose between the feed they prefer (For you, Following, Favorites). However, the fact that even TikTok (which is so very known for its personalized algorithm) will have the option to chronological feed, presents as more of a drastic change. It remains to be seen how many will actually choose to turn off the personalized feed, and if the case is that many people do then the timing of when one publishes will get more important in terms of reach. Given these changes it will be an intriguing time for us as marketers will have to evaluate best practices going forward depending on what the majority of users prefer and choose it terms of (un) personalized user experience.